


Shards

by Sunburst223



Category: The Lion King (1994)
Genre: Child Loss, F/M, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 14:00:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17448323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sunburst223/pseuds/Sunburst223
Summary: Loss is a difficult thing to come to terms with. It defines us all in different ways. And it can easily be the thing that breaks you. Especially when what you lose is your child.





	Shards

**Prologue**

* * *

 

It happened in the blink of an eye. One moment, he was looking up desperately at his brother, begging to be pulled up. To be given a chance to save his son. His own life didn't matter to him. The only thing he cared about was getting his tiny boy, the light of his life, out of harm's way.

The next moment, his heart shattered when the tiny, desperate cries of his son ceased. "It couldn't be," he told himself in despair. The world, his  _brother_ , couldn't be so cruel as to snuff out the life of a cub before it had even truly begun. But cruelty and sheer ambition don't care for personal suffering. They only care for what can be gained. So, despite the deep heartbreak his brother undoubtedly saw in his eyes, the deed was sealed.

A smug and mocking whisper of "Long live the king." A sheathing of claws. And the feeling of impossible betrayal and fury as he plummeted down and down. Then a bone shattering impact and nothing but darkness.

He wished it had stayed that way. He didn't want to face the reality that awaited him once sound and color slowly returned to him. A deep aching coursed throughout his entire body as he slowly lifted his head. The gorge was eerily quiet, the earlier chaos now long forgotten. Frantically looking around as much as his broken body would allow, he finally spotted him. The tiny, unmoving body of his son.

A feeling of deep seeded horror took root, and he clawed his way over to his son like a madman. He moved so agonizingly slow. Time seemed to freeze, and by the time he finally reached that lifeless, little body and scooped it up in his paw his heart was truly in a million tiny shards. A roar of pure agony filled the chasm of the gorge, forever marking this place like a festering wound that would never heal.

 

**Author's Note:**

> So, this idea came to me last night, and I felt an impulse to write a story about it. Yes, this is a story where Simba dies instead of Mufasa. This isn't going to be a story about Mufasa and Scar. A large part of the story in The Lion King is about the pain and trauma of losing a parent. I wanted to tell a story about a different kind of grief, that being the grief of losing your child. That will be the main focus of this story. If you'd like, I'd love if you join me as I tell it.


End file.
